Tuesday, July 31, 2012

On Aug. 25, the Bow-Tie Boyz (n Girlz) Auto Club will be
holding a “Back 2 Class Cruise-In." People who drop by the free event are
invited to donate school supplies for local children who need them.

The club also plans to donate book bags to North Hills
Elementary School.

The club was organized by a group of friends who
realized that they all had one thing in common - they all owned
General Motors cars or trucks. According to the website, “One thing had to
be established prior to forming the club. They did not want to just
say they were an auto club, but they wanted to empower their
communities and truly make a difference in the lives of not only children, but
at-risk young adults as well. It really did not take them long at all to come
up with a name for the club considering the emblem of a Chevrolet
resembles a bow-tie. Thus the name was formed, Bow-T Boyz (n Girlz).”

The “Back 2 Class Cruise-in" will be held from 5 to 8 p.m.
in the Eastway Plaza Shopping Center
on New Walkertown Road. For more information about the club and event
go to: www.bowtieboyz.weebly.com

Monday, July 30, 2012

The City of Winston-Salem has honored Vic Johnson, a member of the Board of
Education, by designating the intersection of Old Greensboro Road and
Waterworks Road as "Victor Johnson, Jr. Way" in commemoration of his
contributions to the community as an educator, a community servant and as a
father.

Johnson is a 1961 graduate of Winston-Salem
State University
and the vice chair its Board of Trustees.

Johnson was recognized for his years
of service to Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools as a teacher and
administrator as well as his service on the school system's Board of Education.
The city's proclamation also noted Johnson's role as a WSSU student in the
civil rights movement of the 1960s when he and other students were involved in
the integration of lunch counters in Winston-Salem.

In the Monday June 30 issue of the Winston-Salem Journal, reporter Melissa Hall writes about Jamison Bethea, a fifth-grader at The Downtown School who celebrated his birthday by organizing a food drive for Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina.

Friday, July 27, 2012

In the July 26 issue of the Kernersville News, reporter Jennifer Owensby writes about Blaire Edwards, a student at Caleb's Creek Elementary School, who wrote and published a book called Flossie Flamingo's Adventures.

Here, with permission from the Kernersville News, is Owensby's story:

Caleb’s Creek Elementary School student Blaire Edwards has
conquered a great feat for a 10-year-old - writing a book called Flossie
Flamingo’s Adventures
.
Edwards, who will be in the fifth grade
in the fall, first started her book writing adventures by telling
stories, as children often do, to her grandmother, Lynette Hampton, on
her front porch.

Edwards said she and her grandmother spend a lot of time together and even more during the summer months.

Hampton, a writer herself, said she asked Edwards if she wanted to start writing her stories down.

“At
the time, Blaire hadn’t learned to type on the computer so I would ask
her what she wanted me to write,” Hampton explained.

She
explained that she would type what Edwards, who was seven-years-old at
the time, wanted and then read each sentence back to her until Edwards
was happy with her story.

Having already started writing her
book, Edwards stated that her writing took off when she was in the third
grade when she was making notes and coming up with ideas for her
stories.

She said her teacher, Amy Reid, contributed to her
excitement for writing; therefore, she dedicated part of the book to
her, along with family members.

There are six stories in Edwards’ book, each with a little moral, Hampton explained.

“At
the beginning of each chapter, it tells what the lesson will be,” said
Edwards. “All of the characters in the book are birds except for one
named Robbie Red Worm, which is a lesson about prejudice.”

Edwards
explained that she and her grandmother enjoyed matching up the first
letter of each birds’ name with their species, for instance Flossie
Flamingo’s best friend is Penny Pelican.

She described another bird, Bobby Blue Jay, who is a bad guy because Blue Jays tend to be bullies, she said.

“He
turns out to be a good guy, though, when he finds out that it’s not so
much fun when Homer Hawk starts bullying him,” Edwards explained.

Edwards finished the book in 2011 and released it around February this year.

She explained that she thinks she chose a Flamingo for her main character because they are pink.

“When
I was younger I loved the color pink. If it was pink I adored it, and
if it was blue I hated it. Now I like all the colors and I enjoy
flamingos because they are unique,” she said.

The 97-page book has six chapters, including “Flossie Flamingo Goes to School.”

“This chapter is about being bullied and how it’s not fun to be bullied,” Edwards said.

The second chapter, “Flossie Flamingo’s Dance Lessons,” is about realizing that not everyone is nice.

“Flossie learns to try new things and that you shouldn’t try to be better than anyone else,” she said.

The third chapter, “Flossie Flamingo Goes Shopping,” is about learning to obey one’s parents.

Chapter four, “Flossie Flamingo Learns to Surf,” is about following instructions.

“She learns that you need to learn to follow the instructions and listen to rules or something bad can happen,” Edwards said.

Chapter five, “Flossie Flamingo’s Birthday Party,” is about sharing.

“Flossie’s cousin learns that it’s not good to take other people’s stuff,” Edwards explained.

Chapter six, “Flossie Flamingo Takes a Walk,” is about having friends that are different.

“She learns that it’s okay to have friends that are not just like you. That’s when she meets Robbie Red Worm,” she said.

Edwards is now working on a new book, entitled Little Purple Elephant.

She explained that it is similar to Flossie Flamingo except that they go to different places such as New York City.

“I have also been writing some songs and poems,” she said.

Edwards
stated that although she doesn’t play any instruments, she loves to
sing and has a solo in an upcoming play, Godspell, at Sedge Garden
United Methodist Church.

Edwards will have a book launch at the Kernersville Library in room 4 on Saturday, July 28 from 4-6 p.m.

Students and their families wanting to make some art and enjoy art by others might want to drop by the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) on Saturday Aug. 11.

SECCA is having its annual Community Day from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free.

People will be able to do such things as make art with paper and create their own mixed-media modifications inspired by the exhibitions “paperless” and “Curtis Mann: Modifications.”

They can also visit with some animals looking for homes. Project Pearl will have an animal adoption and education fair. Animals from Forsyth County Animal Control and Project Pearl’s foster program will be available for adoption.

SECCA is an affiliate of the N.C. Museum of Art, within the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, and Community Day is part of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources Second Saturday program.

You can find SECCA at 750 Marguerite Drive, which is off Reynolda Road across from the Reynolda House Museum of American Art. For questions, call (336) 725-1904.

On the front page of the July 26 issue of Winston-Salem Chronicle, you will find a story about Connect Your Community, a partnership between Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools and WinstonNet, a nonprofit technology initiative, that helps people become more comfortable using computers.

In the article, LaJane Rice, a former president of the PTA at East Forsyth Middle School, talks about how what she learned in the program helped her get a job. Accompanying the article is a picture of Rice with her two children and Superintendent Don Martin.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Four
teachers from Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools - Luba Havraniak of Meadowlark Elementary, Dan
Loftis of Paisley IB Magnet, Jane Loftis of Flat Rock Middle and Kwame Nyerere of East Middle - participated in a week-long,
residential seminar called “Laying Down Tracks: A Study of Railroads as Myth,
Reality, and Symbol.”

Sponsored
by the N. C. Humanities Council’s 2012 Teachers Institute, the seminar was held
June 17 to 23 in Chapel Hill.
Altogether, 41 public-school educators from across the state addressed such
topics as “Railroads and the Transformation of Nineteenth-Century Life,” “The
Death and Rebirth of the American Railroad” and “Mapping Modern Rail Corridors
in North Carolina.”

The
seminar was led by Anne Baker and David Zonderman of N.C.
State University
and Rachel Willis of the University of
North Carolina at Chapel
Hill. In addition to academic sessions, participants were treated
to a performance of “railroad music” by The Hushpuppies, an old-time string
band, and to a full afternoon of research in Wilson Library on the UNC campus.
Another program highlight was a field trip via train ride to the N. C. Museum
of Transportation in Spencer with a day of presentations and exploration led by
museum personnel.

The
Teachers Institute is a free professional education development program
designed to bring teachers together to study the cultures of North Carolina’s diverse communities.
Through rigorous, challenging, and interdisciplinary academic sessions,
Institute seminars provide access to continued intellectual growth for the
state’s educators. Participation is by application only, and teachers
selected to attend Institute seminars receive continuing education credits and
have the option to receive graduate credit.

The
N. C. Humanities Council is a statewide nonprofit and affiliate of the National
Endowment for the Humanities. The Humanities Council serves as an
advocate for lifelong learning and thoughtful dialogue about all facets of
human life.

In the July 12 edition of the Winston-Salem Chronicle, you can read about Shannell Barren, a senior at Atkins High School, winning the Senior Division of the annual General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina James Wertz Oratorical Contest.

Barren, who is a member of Friendship Baptist Church, spoke on the topic of "From Doubt to Faith." She won a $500 prize and will represent North Carolina at the National Baptist Oratorical Contest in St. Louis in June 2013.

Johnny Duckett, who has a show on Cable 2, is featured on the N.C. Department of Public Instruction website. Here is an excerpt from the article:

To the students, families and teachers of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, Johnny Duckett is a bona fide celebrity. "It can be a little embarrassing," Duckett says. "Students will see you in a restaurant and come over to talk. Parents come up to me on the street."

The reason for Duckett's recognition? His Cool Readers show, a cable program dedicated to promoting reading and literacy in WS/FC Schools. The show first aired in 2000 and has been a mainstay on cable television in the Winston-Salem area ever since.

Duckett created the show after spending time as a substitute teacher in WS/FC Schools. He was troubled that students were struggling with reading, and more, that reading was unpopular. "It's kind of a cliché, but I saw that kids thought reading was uncool," Duckett says. "I wanted to get students to like reading – to make it cool."

At the time, Duckett was also volunteering at Community Access TV and felt that a television program could help kids show more enthusiasm for reading. He worked with Gina Webster, a librarian at Walkertown Middle School, to develop the show's format. They created a show that features interviews with students about how and why they read, along with discussions of their favorite books.

The show has fans all throughout the area, and has featured a lengthy list of Winston-Salem dignitaries including Mayor Allen Joines, City Manager Lee Garrity, City Councilwoman Molly Leight, school board member Vic Johnson, N.C. State Rep. Larry Womble and Superintendent Don Martin.

About Me

We're here to share good news about people associated with Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, to answer questions and to let you share your thoughts about how to make the schools better. If you have something that you would like for others to know about or want to ask a question, please send an email to Kim Underwood